«I was jealous of her writing. The only writing of which I have ever been jealous.» — Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf was not the only writer to admire Mansfield's work: Thomas Hardy, D. H. Lawrence, and Elizabeth Bowen celebrated her short stories, and her premature death at the age of thirty-four cut short one of the most extraordinary voices in English short fiction.

This selection encompasses the entire arc of Mansfield's fiction, from her early satirical stories to the subtle and nuanced comedy of The Daughters of the Late Colonel, up to the unsettling and prophetic A Married Man's Story. The stories in which Mansfield repays — as she herself writes — «a debt of love» to New Zealand are etched with the same sharp precision as her European stories, and recreate the world of childhood with lucid, biting insight. The theme of rupture runs through the entire collection, whatever the register — comedic, tragic, nostalgic, or domestic — resonating with Mansfield's torn life and the fragmented expressions of Modernism.

This new edition expands the selection from 27 to 33 stories, arranging them in the order of their first publication, using the definitive texts established by Anthony Alpers.

Oxford World's Classics — For over a hundred years, this series has made the world's greatest literature accessible. Each volume reflects Oxford's commitment to research: accurate critical text, introductions by authoritative specialists, explanatory notes, and up-to-date bibliographies.